


Last Words

by Lady_Faulkner



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Dying Hux, F/M, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutually Unrequited, Redeemed Ben Solo, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-07-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 18:38:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15419148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Faulkner/pseuds/Lady_Faulkner
Summary: Ben Solo has been redeemed, all he needs to do is get off the damaged cruiser and join up with the Resistance. Unfortunately, he notices Hux pinned under some rubble and decides to rescue him. As Hux lays dying, he confesses something that causes Ben to question everything. Does turning to the light rid him of Kylo Ren's sins? Or his feelings?





	Last Words

**Author's Note:**

> This got darker than I meant it to. Please pay attention to the suicide tag.

Ben Solo raced through the hanger as the cruiser collapsed around him. Debris fell from the ceiling and cluttered the floor. As he navigated his way through the chaos, Ben prayed that the  _ Silencer _ was still in one piece. It was his only hope of escape from the inferno around him. His only chance of seeing Rey again.

The ship groaned and Ben paused, his eyes darting all around for obvious weak points. Finding none, he raced forward and noticed that his private shuttle was prepped to take off. 

_ “Hux,” _ Ben told himself as he ran.  _ “He must have been trying to escape.” _

The general’s cold eyes and cruel sneer flashed through Ben’s mind. Hux had tried to overthrow him. To kill him. No, Hux had tried to kill Kylo Ren, but Ben Solo had done that for him. 

Ben slowed as he neared the shuttle. It was surrounded by fallen beams and other debris, but appeared to be in tact. However, Ben began circling the shuttle to be sure. 

“Ren,” a voice breathed. 

Ben froze, after five years, he knew that voice anywhere. Although, he had only heard it speak so softly once; on Crait when it had cautioned,  _ That’s enough. _

Ben took a step towards the source of the voice and found Hux laying under a fallen beam. His lip was busted and his hair was a wild mess. 

“Ren,” Hux called again. 

Ben stopped beside him and assessed the general’s status with the Force. Hux’s legs were crushed, two ribs were broken, three cracked, he had a mild concussion, and a large piece of shrapnel was lodged in his right side. Dark blood was staining Hux's uniform and Ben knew he had a choice to make. He could either pull Hux, a man guilty of mass homicide, out of the rubble and attempt to save his life, or he could leave Hux to die. Ben knew Hux's choice in a heartbeat, but was unsure of his. 

Kylo Ren would have left Hux to die; they were rivals and there was no gain in saving Hux. Not now; the Resistance had destroyed the First Order and Kylo Ren had become Ben Solo once again. Saving Hux would only condemn him to a life in prison or death. However, Ben Solo was not Kylo Ren. 

Ben Solo has been trained in the Jedi arts and knew to value life in all its forms. Hux had committed unspeakable crimes, but that did not automatically condemn him to a fiery and painful death. 

“What are you waiting for?” Hux snapped. “Leave me already. Save yourself, ungrateful traitor!” 

Ben reached out into the Force and lifted the beam off Hux and set it down a few meters away. 

“What are you doing?” Hux demanded. 

“Please Hux, don’t talk,” Ben replied gently. 

“I’m dying, Ren,” Hux sighed. “Talking isn't going to make much of a difference.” 

The ship cracked and groaned around them and Ben Solo made his decision. He reached out and carefully levitated Hux from the floor and guided him into the shuttle. Ben followed him and piloted them out of the hanger. 

“ _ Millennium Falcon,  _ this is shuttle  _ Supreme-1 _ hold your fire,” Ben radioed. 

“ _ Roger that  _ Supreme-1 _ holding fire,” _ Finn’s voice replied.  _ “Sending your the rendezvous coordinates.”   _

_ “Revived,” _ Ben announced before punching the coordinates into the nava-computer. 

Once _ Supreme-1 _ jumped to light speed, Ben engaged the auto pilot and went to check on Hux. 

“You should have left me to die on my ship,” the general spat once he spotted Ben. 

Ben ignored him and searched for the med kit. “I’m going to patch you up,” he insisted. 

“Why?” Hux inquired sharply. “Once we land, your friends in the Resistance will execute me. Why give them unnecessary work?”

Hux’s words stung and Ben knew he was right, but continued to search for the med kit.  

“Ren?” Hux called. 

“Ben,” he corrected. 

Hux looked away from him. A storm of emotional dissonance was raging inside him, but Ben could not fully untangle it. 

“Hux?” he inquired, stepping towards the general. 

Hux closed his eyes and two tears rolled past his pale lashes. “You killed him,” he whispered. “You killed Kylo Ren.” 

“You attempted to do the same,” Ben reminded him. 

Hux grit his teeth. “I wasn't going to let him die without knowing the truth,” he growled. “It would have been the last thing he bet heard.” 

Intrigued, Ben cautiously allowed the last piece of Kylo Ren to resurface. Hux appeared to realize this and turned his head to look at the man who stood before him. 

“Ren,” he breathed. 

“What’s left of him,” Kylo replied. 

Hux winced and reached out his hand to Kylo Ren, who took it gently in his. 

“What did you want to tell me?” Kylo inquired. 

Hux smirked. “Does it matter?”

“Please, Hux,” Kylo implored. 

Hux was silent for a long time. When he did speak, his voice was barely above a whisper. 

“I love you, Kylo. I have always loved you. Now, it is too late for both of us.” 

Kylo’s heart pounded; Hux loved him? How could? Hux had always hated him. Always. Hadn't he? 

_ Careful, Ren.  _

Kylo’s mind raced and he dropped Hux’s hand.  

_ That’s enough.  _

He summoned the med kit to his hand, forced it open, and frantically searched for the necessary supplies to save Hux's life. 

“Ren,” Hux whispered. 

“Hang on, Hux,” Kylo Ren begged.

Hux reaches up and touched Kylo’s cheek. “Stop,” he ordered.

“You're not going to die, Hux, not today,” Kylo Ren insisted. 

“Don't be a child, Ren,” Hux scolded. “Once we land, Ben Solo will kill you for good and then hand me over to be executed. There is nothing left for us, Ren. Everything we built is gone.” 

Kylo bowed his head. “Why didn't you tell me?” he whispered. 

“You would have used me,” Hux replied simply, “as I would have used you. There was no place for  _ love  _ in the First Order.” 

“There could have been,” Kylo assured him, leaning into Hux’s touch. 

“Perhaps, but it’s too late,” Hux conceded. 

Kylo Ren leaned over and pressed a warm kiss to Hux's blood caked lips. “Then this is goodbye,” he whispered. 

Hux kissed him back, “Farewell, my dark knight.” 

Ben Solo turned away from General Hux and sensed his death moments later. He covered the general’s body with a blanket and sat down to meditate. 

Hux had loved Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren could have loved Hux in return. But what about Ben Solo? Did he share Kylo’s capacity to care for Hux? If so, what did that mean moving forward? 

Ben knew that he was attracted to men and women. He and Poe had exchanged a few innocent kisses before Ben had left to be trained by Luke and he wanted nothing more than to kiss Rey when he saw her again. Maybe even more than that. What he felt for Rey was still new. He didn't fully know what he wanted or how far he wanted to go with her. All he knew was that he liked her and wanted to be with her. 

Kylo had also liked men and women. He had often indulged in one night stands on backwater planets where no one would know him. He had even fantasized about Hux from time to time. Pulling him off the catwalk of the bridge and into a deserted room. Kissing Hux breathless, taking him in his mouth, or maybe in the ass. It depended on the day. But he had wanted Hux. He’d wanted him but said nothing because he had known Hux. Or he thought he had. Kylo Ren had believed that Hux would have turned him down or simply used him for his body. Or maybe for leverage. But it was too late now to find out. Hux was dead and so was Kylo Ren. 

Ben took a breath and focused himself. He was Ben Solo once again and Kylo Ren was dead. Kylo Ren was dead, but did that erase what he’d felt? Ben Solo and Kylo Ren had been contained within the same man. That man had made choices; some good and many evil. 

The shuttle dropped out of light speed and Ben knew he needed to clear his head and make sense of who he was. And what he felt. 

“Ben, you made it,” Rey’s voice exclaimed from the console. 

Rey, she had done so much for him, but was he worth it? After everything that Kylo Ren...that  _ he _ had done, did he deserve a second chance? Or was it better to die? 

“Ben?” Rey’s voice called. 

He stood and walked to the cockpit. “Rey?” he responded. 

“Ben, is everything okay?” she inquired.

Ben shook his head; how did she always know? “Rey,” he said softly, “can I be forgiven?” 

“Forgiven?” Rey repeated. “Forgiven for what?” 

“Everything, I did as Kylo Ren” Ben sighed.

“You are no longer Kylo Ren,” Rey reminded him. “You are Ben Solo.” 

He shook his head, “That doesn’t change what I did, Rey.” 

She was silent for a long time. “Did something happen?” 

Ben glanced at the sheet that covered Hux’s corpse. “No,” he whispered, “nothing happened.” 

“Ben, we can talk about this when you land,” Rey insisted. 

“Okay,” he mumbled.

“Ben?”

“Yes?” 

“I love you.” 

Ben sat in the pilot’s chair and tried to focus. He was Ben Solo, son of Leia Organa and Han Solo, nephew to Luke Skywalker, the last Jedi. He had fallen to the dark but returned to the light with the help of a scavenger named Rey. He loved her. He had also taken the name Kylo Ren and committed horrible atrocities. He had loved General Hux. 

Ben stood and walked to where the general lay. He pulled back the sheet and smoothed the fiery hair before pressing his lips against the general’s cooling forehead. 

“Armitage, I love you,” Ben confessed. 

His eyes rested softly on Hux’s corpse and his eyes welled up with tears. A memory from the year he’d met Hux played behind his eyes. 

They had been standing in Hux’s office; Ren in the center and Hux off by a viewport, looking out at the stars. He had slowly turned his gaze and posed a question. 

_ “Tell me, Ren, is it better to die on one’s own terms, or to die in the hands of the enemy as a shell of your former self?” _

“ _ I would think the answer is obvious, general,” _ Kylo Ren had quipped, his voice distorted by his helmet. 

Kylo Ren’s lightsaber was heavy in Ben Solo’s hand as he unclipped it from his belt. “Dying on one’s own terms,” he said solemnly to Hux’s corpse. 

Ben walked to the pilot’s chair and expertly landed the shuttle at the Resistance’s base before returning to Hux’s side. 

“Perhaps we shall see each other again, my dear general,” he whispered, stroking Hux’s cheek. 

Ben straightened up and took a breath. He knew that what he was about to do would break Rey’s heart. He knew that she would blame herself for not being with him; for not supporting him. She had done everything that she could for him, but it hadn’t been enough. Returning to the light did not wash away the crimes he had committed while lost in the dark. Those were sins whose price was blood, and Ben was ready to pay it. 

“I’m sorry, Rey,” he whispered.

Ben Solo held Kylo Ren’s lightsaber to his chest and ignited it. As his vision went dark, he took in the smooth, pale skin, sharp features, and fiery red hair that he had longed to run his fingers through, one last time. 


End file.
